Sometimes dreams are dim, but it doesn't mean it's night for there is no "night or day" in a lucid dream unless you think it is. When it's dim, I can still see objects much better than I can if I were walking at night when awake, and sometimes they are in colour and can even appear to glow. I've seen planets in the sky when it was "day" in a dream, so it's all an illusion of day or night, and brightness is different.

Other times, I have been indoors and the colours are as vibrant as a sunny day, and yet there is a roof, and if you check the windows for a light source, I noticed there are no shadows cast from that angle. In fact I notice none at all.

So what's going on? Here's what I think: The light is comparable to "Backlight". Or if you don't know technology and aren't looking at a backlit screen right now reading this, for all you medieval enthusiasts, it's like being in a 3D world of "Stained Glassed Window Lighting". (From behind without the black outlines of the shapes and objects.) Everything seems to emit it's own light and colours, which is why lucid dreams are often described as hyper-coloured.

I've had a few where I thought it was as real as waking life, but I think it was just my mind playing tricks and I failed to notice on those occasions. When I truly am lucid enough to notice, what I said above is what I have carefully arrived at, but need to bounce my ideas off other people here.

I hope that's a good analogy and paints a picture in your minds of what I'm trying to say. We could also discuss the myth that lightswitches don't work in dreams and we can't control light levels, and I won't say more for this is just an introductory thread about Light Levels in Dreams.

You know what, I've never actually flown into outer space in a lucid dream, so I can't honestly say. I must try that some time. I've had some dreams where I was in blackness with points of light that felt like I was in outer space, but I never was in a vivid lucid dream, standing on the ground, analyzing everything and fully aware and just flew into space.

But I would imagine the blackness of it is pure black with no, 'backlight', and the planets you see would be emitting light from behind. But then what if you look directly at the sun?!

Well, as to not spoil it for you I won't say what my corporeal excursions are like visually. Now the non-corporeal version is better, which is another reason I prefer it. Since I have no eyes I am sensing things and then letting my mind interpret them for me. After all the mind does fill in so much of what we see in real life since the area we can actually consciously concentrate upon is so small. In my non corporeal form I can also see in 360 degrees around myself far more easily. Light levels as they are seem to be artificially illuminated or enhanced. But then since my mind is interpreting what I am sensing that too makes sense, why wouldn't my mind represent things in as clear a visual perspective as possible?

As for the issue of being in space, since some can't fly or don't like it, I have found the effect as the same as diving into the deepest parts of the ocean where light can no longer penetrate.

Is Lucid Dreaming the brains preparation for the next step of human evolution when we can escape the corporeal bond of our bodies?

It's hard for me to imagine a non-corporeal dream. Unless you simply mean a lucid dream that is just like watching a screen and hearing things without a sense of body, which it might just be, but explain further what you mean by a non-corporeal dream and is it like a step above being in an extremely vivid, 3D playground, in sandbox mode. Because when I am in one of those, 360 degree vision is hard to fathom (which will be my ongoing LD goal for the New Years). I even toyed with the idea of going 'out of body' while in a lucid dream and float around, but still remain highly aware at the same time... and it sounds far out.

So what exactly do you mean by a non-corporeal dream, so I can get a picture of it, and understand it better.

My LDs usually look exactly like real life, same colour, some brightness.. thou on occassion they can be brighter (I even once saw a new colour!) or shadowy and dim.

I personally find the dimness or shadowy part of LDs for me tend to be at the begining of them while Im still trying to strongly enter into one (ground myself in one) or at times the dimness has related to the theme of the dream eg scary dreams are sometimes dimmer , it likes ads to the setting.

It's hard for me to imagine a non-corporeal dream. Unless you simply mean a lucid dream that is just like watching a screen and hearing things without a sense of body, which it might just be, but explain further what you mean by a non-corporeal dream and is it like a step above being in an extremely vivid, 3D playground, in sandbox mode. Because when I am in one of those, 360 degree vision is hard to fathom (which will be my ongoing LD goal for the New Years). I even toyed with the idea of going 'out of body' while in a lucid dream and float around, but still remain highly aware at the same time... and it sounds far out.

So what exactly do you mean by a non-corporeal dream, so I can get a picture of it, and understand it better.

Non-corporeal to me means no fleshy body, I am energy and see myself as electric strands that can be moved about like a giant octopus of sorts. I wrote about my experience in this form in space and how I spread myself out as energy as thin as I could looking for another energy (life form) somewhere in my universe. (found it--http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15350#p44821) As for 360 degree vision, take normal binocular vision and then keep extending the peripheral vision until the two halves meet. In other words the conscious focal area is about the same but there are no blinders at the edges of the peripheral portion so you feel aware of your surrounding all around yourself, but surely the mind is still filling in portions. Like I said, it's non-corporeal so I have no eyes. The energy that is making up my conscious self is sensing the world around me and then making a mental interpretation of what that looks like. Similar to how the eyes and mind actually work in real life where your interpretation of the world is an image created inside your mind of the light that has caused nerves to fire inside your retinas.

Is Lucid Dreaming the brains preparation for the next step of human evolution when we can escape the corporeal bond of our bodies?

As for 360 degree vision, take normal binocular vision and then keep extending the peripheral vision until the two halves meet.

Ok, I did this to almost 360 a few years back. It was an effort of will as I just kept adding to the range and was somewhere between 300 - 320 I would guess. I will try it again at some stage and the ultimate goal is to extent this vision to a total sphere. That would be a nice image

Non-corporal, I have never assumed that I have anything less that an energy body and as use this to cart my awareness around and to experience sensation like the vision we talked about. As always its an odd set up as the body is meaningless and we dont need it but then we need some means to 'see and feel" with or maybe we dont and that could be a like to pursue. We need the thought and the ability to have that thought expressed.

Who are you I asked, the reply "dont be silly, we are your daughers" many years before they were born

Peter wrote:Non-corporal, I have never assumed that I have anything less that an energy body and as use this to cart my awareness around and to experience sensation like the vision we talked about. As always its an odd set up as the body is meaningless and we dont need it but then we need some means to 'see and feel" with or maybe we dont and that could be a like to pursue. We need the thought and the ability to have that thought expressed.

I have several schools of thought on this. My preferred school of thought is that mater and energy are interchangeable so the body can be made energy and then turned back as needed. It also means that external energy sources like heat or light can be adsorbed and used as part of yourself when in a non-corporeal form. However, upon returning to the corporeal excess energy is released if not used to increase mass of shape. In other words there is always a balanced equation in the conversion.The other school I prefer far less is that the body is a nursery for the conscious / unconscious mind which when capable of truly becoming one will no longer need a corporeal frame to support it. Oddly this school of thought has also lead me to believe that there are other beings in this form far more evolved than us for some of whom we are food and for others we are servants of a type that they can indenture into a symbiotic relationship of sorts.The last school represents a more religious one where you die and the spirit / soul goes on. Please hold back the flying spaghetti monster comments or I'll put a beat down on a fat Buddha.

Is Lucid Dreaming the brains preparation for the next step of human evolution when we can escape the corporeal bond of our bodies?